tool

SUPERNOVA S0578

Type: malware
Platform: Windows
Created: 18 February 2021
Last modified: 10 April 2024

SUPERNOVA is an in-memory web shell written in .NET C#. It was discovered in November 2020 during the investigation of APT29's SolarWinds cyber operation but determined to be unrelated. Subsequent analysis suggests SUPERNOVA may have been used by the China-based threat group SPIRAL.[1][2][3][4][5]

TechniquesBottom 23%

Tactics32nd pct

Threat groupsNone recorded

CampaignsNone recorded

Enterprise ATT&CK only. Any Mobile or ICS rows on the same ATT&CK page are not carried.

MITRE reference S0578

Encrypted/Encoded File T1027.013↗

SUPERNOVA contained Base64-encoded strings.6

Stealth1 detection rules

Match Legitimate Resource Name or Location T1036.005↗

SUPERNOVA has masqueraded as a legitimate SolarWinds DLL.7 8

Stealth27 detection rules

Web Protocols T1071.001↗

SUPERNOVA had to receive an HTTP GET request containing a specific set of parameters in order to execute.9 10

Command and Control57 detection rules

Exploitation for Client Execution T1203↗

SUPERNOVA was installed via exploitation of a SolarWinds Orion API authentication bypass vulnerability (CVE-2020-10148).11 12

Execution48 detection rules

Web Shell T1505.003↗

SUPERNOVA is a Web shell.13 14 15

Persistence54 detection rules

Standing S0578

Reach is how much of ATT&CK this tool touches. Coverage is how well defended each thing it does is, as a median per technique rather than a total — a total would just restate the reach. Each figure is ranked against all 825 ATT&CK software entries only where that population actually spreads. Where most of the population shares one value, a percentile would rank the tie instead of the entity, so the raw value is shown and no rank is claimed.

Reach

Techniques5Bottom 23%

23rd percentile · 77% of 825 ATT&CK software entries have more Enterprise techniques.

Tactics432nd pct

32nd percentile · 68% of 825 ATT&CK software entries have more tactics spanned.

Threat groups061% tie · 22 values

61% of the population shares a single value across only 22 distinct values, so a percentile here would rank the tie, not the entity.

Campaigns085% tie · 8 values

85% of the population shares a single value across only 8 distinct values, so a percentile here would rank the tie, not the entity.

Coverage

Rules / technique48medTop 9%

91st percentile · 91% of 825 ATT&CK software entries have this many detection rules per technique or fewer.

Tests / technique3med

Detection coverage S0578

186 distinct rules cover the 5 techniques recorded for this tool. The 187 technique-to-rule mappings resolve to 186 distinct rules, because one rule can cover several techniques. 134 Sigma · 52 Splunk.

5 covered by at least one rule186 distinct rules in total

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MITRE reference S0578

Reach

Coverage

How it got here